Baserunning
by AdventWing
Summary: Three shorts about Kou and Aoba. These two complicated individuals reach home plate one base at a time. Fluff.
1. First: To hold your hand

**First: To hold your hand**

At Koshien they finally lost.

There are just two things to remember with this fact.

The first is that getting to Koshien in the first place was a huge deal. An amazing effort that earned you a handful of the sacred dirt off the grounds to take home.

The second is that getting there fulfilled the last dream Wakaba had.

They stood at the grave together, reporting their loss in the finals of the tournament. At the dinner they'd had the other night, Akaishi left it to them. Kou had earned himself a name as the best pitcher that year despite the loss – the kind of pitcher that came once every ten years, it was said.

Aoba was thinking complex thoughts as they stood in front of the grave.

Aoba was not the same girl she was before. She was the girl who cried into Kou's chest, asked for the two-shot they took at a café, and held Kou's hand while waiting for the train.

She thought hard and often about that hug. She still felt the warmth of it, so tangible she could draw it upon herself like it was a cloak or blanket.

Who was she now? She wondered.

A girl who felt nothing but admiration and pride for the young man who had fulfilled her sister's last dream?

A girl who was so thankful that through her mentorship, he had taken her to Koshien?

A girl who was understood by that boy?

That boy – that boy who understood all the pain and sorrow she had felt when she lost her sister. Who understood what fulfilling this dream meant to her. That boy who immediately went to hug her after they'd fulfilled that dream.

"I miss her so much." Aoba admitted.

"I know," he said. "Me too."

Aoba tentatively took his hand. She let her knuckles brush against his ever so slightly. Reached out with one finger, then two, tracing her path slowly until she'd grasped his lightly.

He squeezed her.

She thought harder about who she was now. The wall she'd put up between them had been pulled down when she'd cried on his chest. She cried because she missed her sister. She cried because of the feelings she'd denied, hidden behind a wall of uncivil behavior.

When did she begin to like him? It's most likely her strong feelings for him evolved into love sometime in the six year gap. When he started training for Koshien, she would catch herself admiring him, and remember Wakaba telling her he was amazing, or not to steal him away. She would then hide her feelings behind a wall. There was no way she would let herself feel an iota of like for Kou. To do so would cause her to betray her sister. And yet after the match, she had burst into tears. She liked him. She came to terms with it. Her guilty plea was "I've always hated you." It's like she was saying it and asking to be forgiven.

The wall she had put up between the two of them had been pulled down by the three truths he had told.

Who was she?

"What is it?" he asked, feeling her gaze on him.

"You pitched really well. You're a great pitcher."

"So they say."

She frowned.

He smiled. "Thank you," he said. "I had a great teacher."

She didn't blush, because the way he said it was so matter-of-fact it didn't feel like a compliment to blush about.

"Say. Let's go out and get something to eat tonight," she said.

"Roger."

For now, she would settle with being the Tsukishima Aoba who went on dates with Kitamura Kou, who held his hand when they walked, who talked to him about the sister they both lost.

That would be enough, as a start.


	2. Second: To be honest

**Second: To be Honest**

The lightning from the storm knocked out the power at Kitamura Sports.

It was a situation the two often found themselves in – a situation where they were both together, and alone.

Aoba had stopped by to pick up a box of new baseballs for their batting machine. His parents were having dinner with friends.

"You're going to carry it all the way?" Kou asks, eyebrow raised.

Aoba frowns, not eager to admit she hadn't been thinking. The family must have assumed she would make him carry it back with her.

"I'll take it on my bike later, I want to catch this." He indicates to the TV.

Aoba fumes lightly. First he made her look for him in his home, and now he was delaying her by wanting to watch the program. But she says nothing, and ends up liking what he was watching anyway, sitting close to him.

Then the power cut out.

"Do you have candles?" she asks, eyes taking time to get used to the darkness.

"Somewhere," he says. "Probably."

They sit together in the darkness, both of them wondering what to do next.

Because they thought alike, what was on their minds were each other. Due to that, the decision to get the balls out and to Clover was put on the back-burner.

It had been a month since that miraculous and magical Koshien experience. They both end up thinking about the three promises he made, and Aoba brings it up.

"That day, you lied to me about lying, didn't you?"

"Hm?"

"You told me that we'd go to Koshien. That you'd pitch a 160km fastball. And…that you loved me more than anyone."

"I did say all that, didn't I?"

"It was all true, wasn't it?"

She knew, but she needed to make sure.

His silence told her everything.

"We're both liars," she realizes.

"Aren't we?" Kou says simply.

They thought about the way the both of them lied about their feelings. Aoba doing it aggressively, Kou doing it passively.

For these two liars, in the dark, it was easier to be honest.

There were all sorts of questions to ask. How much did he like her? What did he like about her? But these questions seemed so mundane that Aoba had trouble convincing herself to ask.

They stared at each other instead. She felt his gaze on her in the dark, the way he took in her lines and curves. She did the same.

"There must be things you want to do, since you like me."

"There are."

"Do them."

He studies her a moment longer, then scoots closer. He raises a hand to cup her cheek. She doesn't move.

"Is it really alright if I do?"

"Yes."

"…You're not going to hit me?"

"You'd better do something worth it if I do."

He blows air through his nose in a derisive gesture. Then he leans in and kisses her. It's their first kiss, and it's slow and cautious, and ends just a moment too soon. It warms the both of them. He leans back to see how she will react.

She swallows, mouth dry.

When he does nothing else, she cocks her head. "That's all?"

He kisses her again, deeper. She kisses him back, opening her mouth as their lips seek each other out. All they do for a while is kiss.

Then he pushes her down gently. She lets him.

His hands trail down between her breasts, brushing them with the barest of touches. He pushes up her shirt. She slides a hand under his, stroking his ribs.

He kisses a trail down her neck, to her lean tummy. Her skin burns where his lips are.

Then the lights flicker back on. They pull away from each other, blushing. She pulls her shirt down.

She slaps him on the cheek very lightly, but with enough strength to make a sound.

"What was that for?"

"For pulling my shirt up."

"You said it'd be okay."

"I know, but I can't just let you get away with it."

He shrugs.

"Satisfied?" she asks.

"A little."

Something about it all doesn't sit well with her. She kisses him on the cheek, thinking for some reason that the gesture would make it all better. It doesn't. She realizes at the same time he does that they want more.

Thinking of being fair, she then kisses him on the lips.

It's a long time before they're satisfied enough to take the baseballs to Clover.


	3. Third: To tie a red string

**Third: To Tie a Red String**

He asks her the same way he's always asked her for a date. "Are you free tomorrow evening?"

Aoba thinks for a bit, then answers, "Sure. What are we doing?"

"Nothing much. Could you meet me at Kitamura Sports at six?"

She dresses casually.

A taxi is waiting.

"Are we getting into that?"

"Yes, that we are. It's going to be a long trip. Oh. And you have to wear this." He hands her a blindfold.

She glares at him suspiciously, the same familiar glare. "What are you planning?"

"Trust me. It's a surprise." He smiles, the same innocent smile.

When they reach their destination, he leads her out of the taxi.

"Don't let go of my hand."

She doesn't. He leads her across paved floors, through cool hallways, and up stairs.

She feels grass under her sensible shoes, then dirt and the rise of the pitcher's mound. She knows they're in a baseball field. She knows the feeling better than anything. He removes the blindfold from her eyes. She gasps lightly. They're in the inside of the Koshien Stadium.

"How did you get us in here?" she wonders, but maybe for Kitamura Kou, star pitcher, it hadn't taken much convincing.

Wordlessly he takes a box out of his pocket. He opens it. There lies a beautiful ring.

"What do you think?" he asks her quietly. His expression is mild, as always, but there's a deep intensity in his eyes.

Aoba is stunned.

"What do I think?" she repeats.

"Yeah."

She brings both hands to her mouth. She thinks she might cry.

"Aoba?"

Rather than I love yous or I want to be with yous, Aoba says, "If there were a red string tied to your little finger…could the other end be tied to mine?"

Kou says "Sure," and slips the ring onto her finger gently.

She ends up crying.

He wraps her in her arms. She beats his chest once. "Idiot."

Unlike that day during the Koshien qualifiers, her tears slow instead of intensify. He lifts her face, wipes them away from her cheeks. They stare into each other's eyes.

Ah Kou, she thinks. The same Kou that he's been. The same eyes, ears, lips. The expression the same kind, lucid, thinking expression.

And like that, he lifts her head, tilts it up. He leans down and kisses her.

It's a sweet, simple kiss, but Aoba feels that deep undercurrent. A passionate stir she can somehow feel in him too. They deepen the kiss briefly, but pull away.

Kou plays with the short end of her hair at the back of her neck, something he likes to do. They smile at each other.

It's a promise of more.

Amazed and wordless at the depth of feeling they have, they walk hand in hand out of the stadium.

Akaishi, Azuma, Nakanishi, and Akane are waiting for the result. Kou lifts her hand in the air, and they cheer.

The only thing left to do is run for home.


End file.
